A Philippines Business?

Thinking about opening a business in the Philippines?

MAYOR”S BUSINESS PERMIT

Every Municipality had slightly different rules for the granting of this Permit so don’t be surprised if some additional requirements are asked for or some of the procedures are slightly different.

• Go to the City Hall in the Municipality in which your business will operate and apply for a Mayor’s Permit. Take along your DTI or SEC certificates
• The fees charged will depend on the type of business you are setting up and the amount of your paid up capital – it should range between 2000p and 6000p for small operations.
• You will be granted a temporary permit and you have 60 days to comply with all of their requirements which are detailed below.
• Contact their Special Inspection Team to arrange a time for them to visit your business premises.  3-4 people will come to check out the building for fire safety, sanitary and environmental compliance and they will leave a list of things you need to do and the permits you need to get.
• Obtain a Sanitary Permit.
• Obtain a Fire Safety Permit – you will probably be required to buy a fire extinguisher.
• Obtain a Health Permit –  you will probably need to have chest X-ray.
• Visit the Environmental Officer to check his concerns and get his stamp of approval
• Visit the Treasury Officer at City hall to check if your capital is sufficient.
• Register yourself or your Corporation with the Bureau of Internal revenue (BIR) – you will need to attend a 3 hour seminar and will need to have a set of Official Receipts printed. Registration with the BIR costs 500p and the printing of the Official Receipts will cost you around 2,500p.
• Register your business and any employees with Philhealth.
• Register your business and any employees with Pag-Ibig.
• Register your business and any employees with SSS.
• Take all your permits, registrations and compliances to City Hall to obtain your Mayor’s Permit.

• It will involve many hours of waiting in queues often to be told you are in the wrong one!
• It will involve revisiting offices several times because of some piece of lacking information which you were never told to bring!
• You will never be told the whole process, or even the next few steps unless you ask detailed questions.
• Things need to be done in a specific order.
• Some government offices will accept photocopies while others need to view the original.
• Although the laws regarding setting up a business are uniform throughout the Philippines, each Municipality will have a slightly different interpretation of those laws.

Things will not happen at the same pace as they do in your own country – if you are not patient, don’t even bother.
Far better to come over and enjoy what others have worked for.  Philippinesgaytourist@yahoo.com

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